Many modern firearms, and the bulk of those in use by the military, use a magazine to hold and feed ammunition into the firearm. Such magazines may be configured to hold any number of cartridges. Currently, such magazines are usually loaded by hand. While some devices exist that make it easier for a user to load an individual cartridge into a magazine, it is still time consuming to load magazines, which may have a capacity of 30 or more rounds of ammunition. In a battlefield setting, or during any other type of conflict where large amounts of ammunition may be needed, this time consuming task of loading magazines is, at a minimum, a distraction and, in many situations, could be dangerous or even deadly for those involved in the conflict. Moreover, if a person involved in a conflict is injured in such a way that loading a magazine by hand is very difficult or impossible, the inability to load a magazine may render the person unable able to defend himself or herself, potentially resulting in death. It is likely to take longer than normal in a conflict setting to hand-load magazines due to the distraction and stress of the ongoing conflict occurring around the user loading the magazines. Such conditions are also likely to increase mistakes while loading. Time spent loading magazines in a conflict setting is better spent engaged in the conflict. Therefore, what is needed in the art is a device that can load magazines quickly and is portable and simple to operate, maintain and manufacture.